2012: Top Songs

1. Ladyhawke- Black White & Blue
Did people loose interest in Ladyhawke this year? I must have missed the memo because this song is tremendous. Was there another single so strong, so immediate and demanding of attention as this released this year? If so, I haven't heard it yet.

2. Underworld- Caliban's Dream
As luck would have it the London Olympic Games placed the world's spotlight on many of the musicians who provided the soundtrack to my formative years. While the prospect Underworld scoring the Opening Ceremonies was exciting, the execution exceeded my expectations and cemented one of this year's most concrete collective memories.

3. Meiko- Leave The Lights On
This Is My Jam has been my go to music destination on the web since I joined back in January and the site's social nature has help expose me to all sorts of great music I might not have heard otherwise.  Of everything I have listened to, nothing hit me like the New Order-tinged "Leave The Lights On" which @april jammed back in the spring.

4. The Killers- Runaways
This might be the weakest lead single from The Killers to date, yet it still spins endlessly in my mind half a year later.

5. The Chemical Brothers- Theme For Velodrome
The second London Games track to make an appearance on this list find the brothers chemical Ed & Tom channeling Kraftwerk on this bicycling inspired track (who would have thought to make that connection) to great effect.

6. Saint Etienne- Tonight
Not that there was anything wrong with their post-Too Young To Die efforts, but Saint Etienne finally got down to the business of making brilliant pop this year.  This is just one of the high points.

7. Van She- Jamaica
The Austrialian electropop group have been creating underground buzz over the past few years but took a huge leap forward with this tropically flavored single.

8. School Of Seven Bells- Lafaye
The dreampop of my dreams.

9. Scissor Sisters- Let's Have A Kiki
One of the two self-produced tracks on the all-over-the-place Magic Hour had all of the charm you could want from a Scissor Sisters jam. Popservations has the track's history.

10. Soulsavers featuring Dave Gahan- Longest Day
Let's hope there is something near the emotional honesty of "Longest Day" on DM's upcoming long-player.

Jam On It

This Is My Jam call themselves "a place to put your favorite song of the moment & hear great music, handpicked every day by friends".  Once you are signed up for the site, which can by done by way of facebook or twitter, you can pick a song that is your "jam" for up to a week and are given 110 characters to say something about it.  What brings the site to life is the social component which allows you to follow people based on their musical taste whose jams populate your timeline in a streamable playlist.  I have been using the site with my phone for about a month now and have found it to be a fantastic soundtrack to my commute.  By following people with similar musical taste, some who I know through twitter and others who I have discovered through the site's suggested people widget, there is an mix of familiar songs and music new to me that tickles my interests.  For example my current timeline has Nine Inch Nails "We're In This Together Now", a song that I haven't listened to in years even though I own the CD single, and Poolside's "Do You Believe" which is a new to me but very much in vein of what I am interested in.  Any site that can bring balance to my musical taste is a rare thing and worth a look.

Check out my jams at http://www.thisismyjam.com/discomonk.